Supermarket chains including Waitrose, Tesco and Aldi have been forced to remove dozens of items from sale, following an outbreak of listeria.

As reported earlier this week, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned that frozen sweetcorn is the likely source of listeriosis – reportedly leading to nine deaths so far.

Listeriosis is a rare but serious foodborne illness caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It can be more critical for those people with a weakened immune systems, such as the elderly, pregnant women and infants.

Listeriosis causes vomiting and diarrhoea and usually goes away on its own. However, it can cause serious problems in the elderly, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems. It can cause serious infections like meningitis and miscarriage.

The FSA released a list of 43 frozen vegetable items that have since been recalled.

Full list of all the recalled products (source: FSA):

UK consumers have been encouraged to follow cooking instructions when using frozen sweetcorn (Photo: Shutterstock)